Lore, version 1: The world of Survival Rust Machine (in Russian for now).

In short: a civil war in the Union grew into worldwide unrest and ended in mass nuclear contamination. Fifteen years later we survive in the Road Belt. The full text is 3200 words, full of pathos, about fifteen minutes to read.

What is in the lore

• The Union. A fictional country with no date. Vehicles and everyday life match 1988–1995.
• The Crisis. Three years of war: the army split, depots looted, dams and nuclear plants failed, nuclear detonations.
• Fifteen years later. Roads instead of a state. The explored area is the Road Belt. Pervograd is sealed.
• Four paths. Control, made of former military and police; neutral Travelers; Resourcers with oil, wood, stone and scrap; Bandits with no single faction.
• No mutants, no anomalies. Only floods, dust storms and toxic rain.
• The map. A concept for now: a crater where Pervograd stood, a river, megacity ruins. Regions are not tied to it.

What the lore decides for gameplay

The main rule: all progress is in the car, and you can lose it. We find a car on the street and rebuild it in the garage. The roof weapon is controlled from the cabin, we fight alone.

The car is wrecked, the driver lives. Three outcomes:

1. An ally repairs it on the spot with a large repair kit.
2. A tow truck hauls it to an outpost, repairs cost money.
3. The winner hauls it to the black market. We start over in a standard car.

In the first post we wrote “after death you lose everything”. That rule is outdated: loss is staged, total only after a black market teardown.

Open question: we earn a role by our actions, as on the Steam page, or choose one and lose reputation on switching, as in the lore. We will decide once reputation and wanted status exist in the build.

About the pathos

“While the engines run, this world has a future.” Names are working titles, some regions get a single line, and about Pervograd we know one thing: the roads in are blocked. Left as is: version 1 is a starting point. We will edit it based on the build. Version and date are at the top of the document.

What is next

• An English version of the lore.
• A decision on switching paths.

What sounds fake or unnecessary? Tell us in Discord or via the support page.